Two Tajik Officers Sentenced For Torturing Teen

(RFE/RL)
DUSHANBE, April 27, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- A court in the Tajik capital Dushanbe has sentenced two police officers to prison terms of two years each for torturing a 16-year-old boy.

The court today also fined a third officer the equivalent of $1,700 for not intervening to protect the boy.

Dushanbe prosecutor Kurbonali Mukhabbatov says the boy was detained in January during the investigation of a robbery, and then was beaten and tortured with electric shocks. Muhabbatov says the boy denied any involvement in the robbery.

"The police officers' guilt has been proven during the investigation," Muhabbatov said. "It has been proven that the teenage boy had been unfairly detained and tortured, and this is against the law. Therefore, we will take all the necessary measures to defend citizens' rights and liberties in the city of Dushanbe."

A report by the United Nations Committee Against Torture cites Tajik authorities as saying that Tajik courts considered 160 cases involving alleged torture from 2004 to 2006.

(with materials from agency reports)

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